"Why do you tag all your art 'LGBTQ' even if it doesn't feature anything gay?"🧐

"Because the kind of people who would block that tag are people I don't want to interact with." 😘 🌈

Big Mama Bughorse will be stealing your meme, now.

More Tea Time For Couples with the Royal Diarchs of New Canterlot. A little private social event devised by the royal gals to better share racial and cultural understanding between the inter-species couples of Equestria. This time, Queen Twilight Sparkle and her wife, Queen Chrysalis Sparkle invite over family from the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadance and her husband Shining Armor for snacks, a few drinks and some frank discussion of the quirks of life and love.

A little love for Songbird Serenade. Love that gals design. Also a tease for an upcoming story- "Dinky-Doo Saves The World"

Another piece and a bit of an excerpt from "The Festival of Serpents" a Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops cross-cultural jam, set in The Eternal Courtship AU.

Bonnie brushed through her wife's mane, listening intently as Lyra went on about her ancestral homeland…

"When I was just a little filly great, great grand-mam Flameberge used to tell us all stories about them, Selene and Marceline. She was something else."

Her smile was tinged with the nostalgic sadness of family lost. Bonnie paused in brushing through her wife's now bright orange mane to lovingly stroke her cheek. Lyra gave her hoof a nuzzle and continued.

"Great-great grandda Fortune Fair, now he was a crazy old coot. I used to think his mind was just gone. We ALL did. The way he would carry on about 'The Old Ways'. Still, he seemed so happy sometimes- like when he used to tell us about the time he actually saw Marceline."

"Met her? Isn't She one of your people's gods?"

Lyra nodded. "Yep. She gave all us Mares of the Isle our red manes and big floofy chests." Lyra puffed up the crest of her barrel- a trait normally only seen in pegasi and even then, hardly so prominent as Lyras.

Bonnie smirked and gave her wife an affectionate nuzzle. "Remind me to thank her sometime."

Lyra kissed her hoof with a proud ruffling of her fluff. "Heh. The legends differed on what She looked like. Some said She was stone gray with a mane as black as ink and huge, hooked wings with wounds on her neck like a vampire bite. Some of the old-timers said She WAS the first vampire, others said… well, She roamed the deepest parts of the woods, far from the edges of any of our villages or fields. WAY out where She could be alone, doing whatever gods do when she wasn't with Selene."

Lyra laughed heartily and began to pantomime exaggerated waves of her hooves, speaking with the raspy tones and exaggerated accent of an old stallion mariner of the Coltic Isle.

"Back in those days, before the coming of those Golden Coast heathens a unicorn knew their place. Children of the world were we, children of the isle, the soil- but our mares, they were the daughters of the wood and we KNEW our place weren't there. That was HER land and we knew well enough to respect Our Lady's sovereignty…"

Bonnie laughed as Lyra turned to her, squinting and jutting out her chin. She theatrically sipped from an unseen flagon and wiped at an invisible beard.

"BUT there were those of us who were daft enough to go wandering where we shouldn't. And I just happened to be a stallion of such dubious mettle." She cackled and slapped her flank with a huge grin. "I had just been blessed with the delightful learning that your dear grammie would soon be blessing our happy home. Being a proper stallion of the isle, the lads took me out to celebrate, perhaps a little too much, it turned out."

Her voice grew more ominous in tone. "Soon, I was full of the spirit and wandering about in the woods. Not just any woods, mind you. These were the dark places, where the light found no home. The beautiful moon herself never touched the soil and the tree bark was as black as the pitch beneath the icy depth of the seas. I felt about in the dark, terrified by my own stupidity. Even …eh… encumbered… as I was , I knew I was not in the safest of places. Birds didn't sing out there. Nor bees fly. They knew better, as I should have. The things which grew knew no hoof nor horn. Things which were not for pony-kind. Old things lived out here, dark things, dangerous things."

Lyra's eyes darted about excitedly with a panicked glare "It was soon I heard their laughter. whispering in my ears. Taunting me, teasing, just on the edge of hearing, like shadows in my mind. They hissed and giggled- cruel, mocking voices like needles dipped in honey and hate. EVIL voices cackling tiny shrill things, threatening me with madness. I ran as I never had, tears in me eyes. I knew it would be my last night on the sweet coast of my family. My last thoughts would be fearing for your grammie and how I'd not be there to greet her into this world.

But then, I saw…"

She lifted a hoof and pointed to the distance, suddenly very still, reverent.

"The voices stopped. EVERYTHING stopped. The world itself froze in dead silence, like winter had claimed it all. The only way I could tell you I yet lived, sweet lassie, was the pounding in my chest and the blood, rushing through my ears. The eyes. Two spheres of green flame, floating in the dark. They drew me in. It was like looking into the maw of the serpent herself at the end of all things."

"She came from the dark… like nothing I had ever lain eyes upon. The most …beautiful and terrifying mare a body had ever beheld. Her ivory coat seemed to sprout from the dark, glowing like a star- like I was watching creation unfold. A body as lithe and graceful as the music of the wind. She had fetlocks that seemed to flow in a breeze all their own and a mane as crimson-red as the blood of Equis' own soul, trailing down to the grass. She towered over me, looking down with those eyes. Impossible eyes. They were… like looking into time. I could see our village being built, stone by stone. I saw the faces of my own dear ma and da, falling in love at the sweet summer festival. Meeting my sweet beloved Flameberge in the flower of our youth. I saw the birth of our first foal, and felt the cold across my gut of four stallions carrying my mortal remains to the pyre. There was no doubt about it, I was in the presence of The Wood Herself, The Great Mare of Soil and Stone and I was an idiot in the very deepest of trouble."

The royal family cuddled in the gentle serenity of their New Canterot bedchamber. Chrysalis' forelimbs draped protectively over Twilight's much smaller form, her favorite way to sit together. Twilight nestled in the nook of her wife's lap, enjoying the cool of her chitinous body. Her mane waved about lazily in the currents of her power. The navy tresses lapped at the satin of Chrysalis' nightie producing a soothing, almost musical hiss, not unlike the relaxing spray of the ocean. The serenity of their love was only interrupted by the tiny changeling larva dangling awkwardly from her mother's horn.

Twilight giggled. She struggled to not go cross-eyed as their offspring flailed about, inches from her face. Their peace was idyllic. Chrysalis flicked her serpentine tongue. She was as much tasting the emotions in the air as she was taunting the little larva. It returned the gesture with a tiny playful hiss. "Do you want to know what she's thinking?" Twilight's wings ruffled in surprise. "What? But she's just a larva, barely out of her first molt. I thought she couldn't contact the hive mind just yet?"

"It's true, her mind is unformed, more a series of scattered impressions and feelings" Chrysalis regarded the tiny little face with a tilt of her head. "but they are there, nonetheless." Twilight craned her neck to look back to her wife, carefully mindful of the infant changeling perched on her horn. The curiosity in her violet eyes was offset by the comedy of the flailing wiggleworm. "But without conscious thought, how? I thought the hive mind required a level of clarity they didn't possess until their nymph stage?" Chrysalis leaned forward to touch her snakelike snoot to the tiny charge chittering back at her. Her lips raised into a slight smile as the larva patted at her muzzle, nipping ferociously with fangs the size of quill nibs. "Think of it as walking through a forest at night. The many other minds of the hive walk by or rest in the trees. Creatures such as little..." "Sooty Cutie" Chrysalis raised an inky razor-fine eyebrow. "Yes..." Twilight grinned playfully at her wife's annoyance. Chrysalis rolled her eyes with a chuckle. Twilight respected their differences, loved her changeling family for them but she did feel the bizarre need to give all their daughters ridiculous little pony names. "Little Sooty Cutie here is like a... fog, a patch of mist you walk by- or through. Swirling about your hooves, grasping for attention- more of a presence than a persona but still, her existence has effect, if not purpose." Twilight tilted her head back, drawing the dangling little grub closer to her face. She gasped in mock terror at the beaming face as tiny forelimbs clasped onto her muzzle and fangs nipped and nibbled. "Did you hear what she said? Your momma said you don't have a purpose!" She wiggled her head, gently shaking her child about like a sailor on a stormy shipdeck. The tiny life chittered gleefully. "You have a purpose. Yes you do! It's being so cute. Being so cute to your mommas." Chrysalis watched them play together, the smile broadening on her chitinous cheeks. Twilight was so unlike any of her pony kind, detached in many ways, distant, as is required of a ruler. Yet even so, for being so collected, so factual and practical, Twilight held such incredible depth of feeling, compassion, love. Watching her go 'baby-crazy' like this was adorable. Twilight paused. "I'd like that very much, yes." Chrysalis gave her pony wife a squeeze and sighed dreamily. "Your voice sounds funny. Your coat feels pleasant to her crochets. Your horn is fun and your magic hums like a heartbeat..." she pressed her chitinous lips to her pony lovers ear in a whispering kiss. "She loves you. You're her queen- and her mother." This was their family.

They should have always been like this.

"There are times when I really don't want to be queen. The crowns, our thrones, none of it matters. I only want this. Let the world take care of itself- they'll be fine. All I want is to be here with you like this, sharing our love, forever and ever more." "There's danger in a queen thinking such things." She stroked her lover's cheek, drinking in her immortal eyes "but I think them too." The Eternal Courtship- Love never dies. It only changes form.

"Look at you! You're doing SO well! Yeah! I'm SO proud of you!" Ponymama Queen Twilight takes she n Chryssi's first li'l nymph, Muffintop out for her first high flying adventure.

Never forget to tell your little ones that you love them. Just because they don't look like you, that doesn't mean they don't love you, too.

Continuing from the events of "The Jello-shots Incident"

Agent Sweetie Drops sighed heavily, thinking over the catastrophic events of the evening. It had all begun so simply, four inter-species couples, out on the town as friends.... "Once the karaoke contest got going-" She thumped a hoof on the interviewing table. "-that was when things got out of hoof. We all voted that Queen Chrysalis should be disqualified from competing. It felt uncomfortable, maybe a bit racist but still, the facts are that Her Changeling ability to perfectly mimic voices gave her an unfair advantage. She grumbled about it but with her wife present, she yielded without incident. Though she did insist on opening things up with a spicy little number from 'Good With Horseshoes'. That was when I should've ended things." Caufax Cauliflower raised an eyebrow. "Queen Twilight?" "Yes Ma'am." Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes. "I swear. Those two are just..." She shook her head, rubbing at her temples. "I know." Caufax sighed. Reaching across the debriefing table she refilled her water glass and pat her shoulder sympathetically. "We've had to re-assign agents to them several times now." Sweetie Drops chuckled and sipped at the glass. "It's unreal. It's like every time you get them together they turn into a bit-store romance novel, that or a stag film." Sweetie drops pantomimed excitedly. "Chrysalis started singing at her and just like that I swear Twilight was about to take things into adults-only territory..."

CAUTION- Currently Under Construction. Crucial creature activities in progress.

Finally finding time for site-building and adapting the first episode of The Eternal Courtship into an audiodrama format. Lovers of love can look forward to a bit of inter-species immortal romance and shenanigans on the horizon. Details to come on that. Big Love to all y'all, Pony Queens, Big Mama Bughorses or whatever ya got.

When your Pony-wife's friends get you a li'l plush of her to cuddle for those times when business of the crown keeps you apart for a bit.

Queen Chrysalis Sparkle- Big Mama bughorse, loving on her mare, Eternal Courtship style.

I forgot that I never got around to posting these two! A couple more shots of my two favourite Equestrian Royal-type gals in cosplay of a couple of the most iconic gals from the SNK KOF series. 👭💜💙💚💛💗👭

Queen Twilight Sparkle rocking the look as King! Easily one of my favourite fighting game characters with one of my favourite character designs going ALL the way back to her debut in the original Art of Fighting. Badass gal combo.

And since a King needs her Queen so Queen Chrysalis Sparkle slinks her way into the costume of SNK's original ninja bee herself, Mai Shiranui. The irony of a creature with no sexualized concept of nudity cosplaying a character designed for 'sex appeal' is not lost on me. 😉 Get Bughorsed. 💜🐞🐴💚

Hope y'all are having a great day. Big Love to all y'all. 🌈

Thank you kindly for the compliment. I really wanted to get that up on Mother's Day but ended up a day late, I know. I know I'm answering this a BIT late. I want to work on that and get to a more regular schedule of getting the Big Love out for folkes to enjoy.

Part n Parcel to the problem of being a traditional artist and all the outside responsibilities. To use a recent piece as an example; Hammering out a rough pencil only takes maybe ten or fifteen minutes. Like so-

I do my sketching in the living room, some at my desk. mostly when I'm playing couch monster with my family. Getting to scan an image means heading to the PC in our bedroom and transferring that scan to a flash drive or my back-up hard-drive. Scanning takes a tick, colour correcting as IRL image gets digitized, cleaning up particles on the glass showing up in the image, tiny changes in tone that do NOT show up on the paper but the scanner decides are there...

Now, experience has taught me to scan at multiple stages. You never know when a piece of paper can get ruined, crinkled up, pen leaks, a well-meaning loved one spills their dinner, ONE STRAY CRUMB of greasy chips stains something, etc.

Still, I take what I like as the image comes together, refine it with inks, usually standard Bic V5 pens or Sakura art pens for finer deetail. Add this, erase that and move on to whipping out the final stage weapons of choice, Kopic Markers, Strathmore colored pencils and whatever other hoobajoobs I've got on hand.

At the end of the day, I love sharing the joy of the world I see with y'all, as told through the lens of fantasy, romance and little gay ponies. The Eternal Courtship stories I write and the art I do are as much an exercise in my relaxation as they are an expression of worldview- but above all else it's a world of love, love crossing boundaries of race, ethnicity and culture. Folkes growing beyond learned\indoctrinated black-n-white perception and seeing the beauty in the rainbow of ideas and emotions in the world around them- that's beautiful to me. It's sometimes difficult and it hurts, but that's the reality of growth.. That's life. That's love.

Thank y'all to all the folkes who enjoy the Big Love with me in this world. Stick around because there's WAY More to come!

A heavy-hitting image of PRIDE art by Ahrimanraven. NEVER forget the victims. Never forget the sacrifices of those who came before. 💔😢💜

OC "Stonewall" by Ahriman 👍

Art ref by yakovlev-vad

I'll never get tired of drawing my favourite inter-species royal family.

From The Eternal Courtship, Queen Chrysalis rocks the cyber-goth Medusa vibe for her Alicorn Queen wife. 👭💜💚👭💜

Big love to all y'all, Pony Queen, Big Mama Bughorse or whatever ya got. 🌈🐞🐴

"When you find someone special to you- Whose heart makes you feel understood. Their voice puts your mind at ease. Their words embolden you to be your best self and their arms feel like home. Give that person everything you've got. Love them with all your heart. Hold onto that person and don't ever let go." -Discord From the Eternal Courtship, EGAU- Twilight and Chryssi Sparkle.

A pleasant afternoon of studying up at the New Friendship Academy with special Apple family guest Orchard Blossom reading for a few of the students.

A few faces y'all know, a few OCs. Aigle n her frog-friend Sir Wart, Li'l Changeling Regina and Ophiotaur Bluecifer join the class to listen to the Big Gal of Sweet Apple Acres.

Happy PRIDE Month and Big Love to all y'all. 💜💙💚💛💗

"Love is a human experience not a political statement."

Great li'l commish of art for PRIDE month by Emily Thomas of my OC and Horspanic alter-ego, Alicia Otherquill, wandering storyteller and lorekeeper for The Discordian Temple. 💜💙💚💛💗

If y'all wanna get in on the art, look up this peach of a gal on all the usual places under "hotboglady". Happy PRIDE Month to all y'all! 😁🌈😁